D&D 4E Ranger: Beastmaster New Powers

Garthanos · Jul 3, 2019

The premise is : The Beastmaster Ranger uses a freehand to direct and coordinate (via gestures and possibly other mechanisms) his beast. The beast is pretty much his offhand-weapon.

Why because twin-strike and its advancing related-ascendants are seemingly too good to pass up and it might be nice to have competitive options with the right flavor.

Coordinated Ravaging : We are deadliest fighting together

Garthanos · Jul 3, 2019

This paradigm assumes your beast like an offhand weapon will be gaining progressive enhancement bonuses through out your career. It should be treated as having Inherent Bonuses including advancing Criticals generally d6 per plus.

Larrin · Jul 3, 2019

I always thought that Totems would have been an interesting, thematic way to give animal companions a magical bonus to attack and damage as well as crit dice, etc. Shamans already do this with their spirit companions, so it mechanically works without too much trouble. Basically, beastmasters would gain totem proficiency, and while equipped their companion would get the enhancement bonuses and other such benefits. They could also conceivably benefit from totem expertise etc. Likewise for sentinel druids.

As for the powers, Honestly, if you remove the "free hand requirement" you open up a lot of fun space, without really disrupting game balance. The one handed weapon is often a d10 already, letting it be a d12 or reach or a bow or whatever isn't going to be what tips this power overboard.

When I was still spending time with 4e powers, I thought that you should have been able to simply substitute a beast for an off hand weapon in all such powers. It adds a lot of fun, and considering that the twin-strike ranger was already so powerful and the beastmaster had so many liabilities, you can really just make the swap and it really isn't going to over shadow the twin-striker.

Tony Vargas · Jul 3, 2019

Larrin said:
I thought that you should have been able to simply substitute a beast for an off hand weapon in all such powers. It adds a lot of fun, and considering that the twin-strike ranger was already so powerful and the beastmaster had so many liabilities, you can really just make the swap and it really isn't going to over shadow the twin-striker.

With the proviso (not really /that/ odd) that the targets must be within your reach or range, and the beast adjacent to any target it attacks, seems fairly straightforward.

Garthanos · Jul 3, 2019

Larrin said:
s.

As for the powers, Honestly, if you remove the "free hand requirement" you open up a lot of fun space, without really disrupting game balance. The one handed weapon is often a d10 already, letting it be a d12 or reach or a bow or whatever isn't going to be what tips this power overboard.

The free hand requirement in this build is in order to separate it from the two weapon twin-striking use. Not wanting it simultaneous.

Basically if the beast is not attacking the same enemy as you are it is acting like a Thrown Weapon (A bit weaker). So some of the powers under this paradigm come from that.

I think if your beast is being used for flanking it already in effect becomes another location you can be attacked which is a weakness in comparison to using an offhand weapon.

I think a Beastmaster should be able to share a HS with a minor action give the beast a second wind - I am going to have to review how the BM works currently.

Garthanos · Jul 3, 2019

Tony Vargas said:
With the proviso (not really /that/ odd) that the targets must be within your reach or range, and the beast adjacent to any target it attacks, seems fairly straightforward.

Does the beast trigger opportunity attacks? this is a problem compared to a twin strike or thrown weapon attack.

Garthanos · Jul 3, 2019

Larrin said:
As for the powers, Honestly, if you remove the "free hand requirement" you open up a lot of fun space, without really disrupting game balance. The one handed weapon is often a d10 already, letting it be a d12 or reach or a bow or whatever isn't going to be what tips this power overboard.

When I was still spending time with 4e powers, I thought that you should have been able to simply substitute a beast for an off hand weapon in all such powers. It adds a lot of fun, and considering that the twin-strike ranger was already so powerful and the beastmaster had so many liabilities, you can really just make the swap and it really isn't going to over shadow the twin-striker.

I see what you mean though an attack with a bow or two handed is not a ton bigger and the bow is in character ... perhaps a bonus to the beasts attack if you have a hand free directing it?

Larrin · Jul 4, 2019

Garthanos said:
Does the beast trigger opportunity attacks? this is a problem compared to a twin strike or thrown weapon attack.

Yes it will provoke, which would mean powers that require attacking the same target or within reach will be notably worse than ones that allow one or two targets anywhere. I don't think being within reach is a necessary requirement, unless the power already states only one target. Having your beast wander away from you is a risk, so having some reward on twin strike with a beast 8 squares a way is sort of balanced. Still there are going to be a number of powers that want you to attack the same target with multiple attacks. This is one of the things that will keep a beastmaster's power level lower than a TWF ranger and why a good ranged weapon or a reach weapon might be a beast masters desire.

I think ways around this are powers that let you or your beast shift (or move without OA) before or between attacks, utility powers that allow for both of you to move/shift safely, or just making sure you keep track of where you and your beast are getting to.

Garthanos · Jul 4, 2019

Larrin said:
I think ways around this are powers that let you or your beast shift (or move without OA) before or between attacks, utility powers that allow for both of you to move/shift safely, or just making sure you keep track of where you and your beast are getting to.

Hence why I think we build new powers like the one in the original post where the beast is commanded and shifts etc it will likely provide flanking and situation-ally enhancing the team attack.

Remove the freehand req from the power and give a class feature or feat Offhand Commands

A system of gestures and similar which gives your beast bonus if you have a hand free. this should scale probably.